


Finding a Way into the Fates' Back Door

by LateToThePartie



Series: Whispering in the Dark [3]
Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Guilt, LoreTober (Lore Olympus), Subterfuge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27068824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LateToThePartie/pseuds/LateToThePartie
Summary: After Thanatos spills his bad deeds to Hecate, she recruits him to accomplish a few tasks to atone.Written for day 17 of the Loretober challenge: The Fates Tape
Series: Whispering in the Dark [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1975648
Comments: 12
Kudos: 36





	Finding a Way into the Fates' Back Door

He swallowed and nervously shook the foot of his crossed leg, opting to stare off into the perpetual night sky of the Underworld rather than her expressionless face. He knew he was in trouble. He knew he’d messed up badly. If Thanatos was this frightened of Hecate, he didn’t even want to think about what Hades was going to do to him when he found out. 

She tapped her fingers and sighed, lowering her gaze to her desk and contemplating the best course of action here. She was glad Thanatos had come to her, but extremely angry that he had worked so hard to dig up dirt on Persephone. If only he could work that hard at his own job! The facts floated around in her head like broken pieces of a painted vase she was trying to glue together. 

Of course she had known about Persephone’s act of wrath. Hecate had been drawn to the mortal realm shortly after it had happened and while Demeter and Persephone hadn’t talked about it outright, Hecate had observed enough to piece the situation together. Hecate could _feel_ the power bleeding out of the young spring goddess and she desperately wanted to guide her on how to properly channel her gifts. 

Apollo had suggested Thanatos go to Helios. For once, breaking and entering could be forgiven for the tidbit of information it had revealed: Apollo had also knocked on Persephone’s bedroom door for a _date._ Why did Apollo want to cut Persephone down so badly? Did she reject him? She knew the sun god was jealous of the power the three kings wielded, especially Hades. Apollo would be sensitive to any budding feelings between Persephone and the Underworld king.

Hermes had blown his cover by roughing up Thanatos. She figured he had to be involved since his numbers were always so good and he was close to Persephone, but it wasn’t anything Hecate felt she had to worry about. Even if she was sure Thanatos would keep that little piece of information to himself, Minthe had heard everything and _she_ was definitely not going to keep that to herself. 

Demeter was still on the loose, who knows where. It would be safest if she could be found and brought back to the Underworld, although forcing one of the six traitors against their will would take a lot of power. 

A text notification broke her from her thoughts. She snapped her head up just in time to see Thanatos pull his phone out of his pocket. He swallowed and pursed his lips as if considering whether he should respond or not. Sneaking a look at Hecate, he said, “It’s Minthe. What should I do?”

“Do NOT respond to her at all. I don’t care if she texts, emails, calls. We need to get this sorted out first. I’ll deal with her.”

Nodding his head, Thanatos slipped the phone back in his pocket and folded his hands to stop them from fidgeting. He’d switched his crossed legs after his foot had gotten tired and was rapidly working the new foot back and forth.

Smiling – to herself at first – Hecate leaned back and asked, “Tell me, Thanatos, you can teleport anywhere, right?”

“Yes, but it’s tiring,” he said slowly, wondering where she was going.*

She leaned forward and folded her hands neatly on the table. “I have two tasks for you. One – I need you to break into the Fates’ lair at exactly 6 PM. It must be at that–”

Thanatos interrupted her, “Won’t they know I’m coming? They’re the _Fates_ after all.”

Hecate raised a halting hand and said, “Firstly – don’t interrupt me again. Secondly – the Fates want everyone to believe they are omniscent, but their domain is really just the mortal realm. That’s why they live in the Underworld, so they can do their job without influencing the actions of those within the mortal realm.” Lowering her hand, she continued, “As I was saying, since you’re so good at breaking and entering, I’ll need you to do just that at exactly, precisely, no other time other than 6 PM. Understood?” Her eyes lit up as an idea popped in her head, “But first, come back here at 5:30 PM sharp. I am going to give you something.”

“Yes, but what do you want me to get?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.

She shrugged and said, “It shouldn’t be surprising, but I want you to borrow Persephone’s act of wrath tape. It might take you awhile to find it, but I’ll make sure there is a sufficient distraction for them. As soon as you have it, bring it back to me here. Then I will tell you what your second task is. Now go and make yourself scarce at the office. I don’t want Minthe tracking you down.”

Thanatos sighed and nodded his head as he walked out of her office. He had gotten himself into this mess and if this was what he had to do to extricate himself from it and the associated guilt, he’d do it. 

Once her door was firmly shut, she pulled out a VHS tape from her top desk drawer and proceeded to pull out the film inside until it was all nearly curled up on her desk. For good measure, she scrunched it in her hands a little bit. Picking up her phone, she figured she get Minthe out of the way before summoning Hermes to her office to make a special delivery.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermes nervously shuffled in front of the three Fates who now frowned up at him, their demanding glare burning a hole in him. “I-I told you, all Hades said was that his old VCR chewed up the tape as he was watching it.”

Atropos and Lachesis folded their arms across their chests while Clotho pursed her lips and raised and eyebrow. “What else did Hades tell you?”

Hermes swallowed and said, “N-nothing.” It wasn’t really a lie, after all, since Hades hadn’t told him anything directly. Hecate had relayed the message, but she was adamant he not mention that part of the story.

Sighing, Clotho looked down and examined the tape more closely. She was beyond irritated, having vouched for the king of the Underworld only to have their precious tape nearly destroyed. It was a little too coincidental for her liking, but she had nothing else to go on. Lachesis and Atropos leaned in to examine it as well.

Clotho looked up and said, “I th–” but cut herself off and spun her head back to the archives behind them.

Atropos asked, “What, sister?”

Shaking her head, she said, “Nothing, I just thought I heard something,” before turning her glare back to the offending tape. Silently, Lachesis slipped away to walk down the aisles and Hermes nervously cough-sneezed.

Clotho looked up at him and then back over her shoulder and called out to Lachesis, “Is everything OK back there, sister?”

A few tense seconds later, she emerged and shrugged, saying, “I didn’t see anything.”

Clotho harumphed as she turned back to the tape. “It’s an _odd_ way for a VHS tape to unwind. Usually I’d expect to see some tearing or shredding, but I’m not going to worry about it. I’m sure the king of the Underworld has better things to do than destroy tapes for no reason.”

Hermes ran his hand up the back of his head and said, “Maybe it’s time to switch to digital? I mean, it’s kinda risky to leave history on VHS with no backup, right?”

The three sisters snapped their heads up and glared at him.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a nervous tap on her door just after 6:30 PM. Without looking up from her phone, Hecate called out, “Come in.”

The door opened and closed as if by magic or ghostly presence. Hecate smirked and said, “You can take the helmet off now, Thanatos.”

Panting, Thanatos dropped the tape followed by the helmet on her desk with shaking hands and then walked over to her couch where he flopped onto his back. 

“Rough, huh?” she asked as she set her phone down and stashed the tape in her desk drawer, but leaving the helmet of invisibility out. Hades had leant it to her this afternoon, no questions asked, on the promise that she’d return it within 24 hours. While he had been surprised at the timing of her request, Hades knew better than to ask her probing questions; besides, he was sidetracked with keeping Persephone’s presence at his house a secret.

Thanatos rested an arm across his brow and said, “Y-yeah. When I heard Hermes’s warning sound, I plastered myself against the wall. She walked by – so close I felt her clothes rub against my arm.”

Hecate smirked and said, “Well, you wouldn’t have gotten in any more trouble than you already are with me.”

Thanatos exhaled a shaky breath and asked, “What do you hope to accomplish with the tape? Helios already gave his side of the story to me.”

“Well, I’d rather not rely on the testimony of a titan with a grudge. If the Fates record it, it’s truth – the _only_ truth.”

Staring uncomfortably at the ceiling, Thanatos waited for his next task. He didn’t want to bring it up, hoping that this would be sufficient effort to assuage his guilty conscience, but deep down he knew that neither he, nor Hecate, would be satisfied until Persephone could be cleared. He was surprised to realize that part of him wanted to know how she was doing, but he wasn’t really ready to vocalize that question just yet.

Hecate picked up her phone and checked the Oracle news app, exhaling a relieved breath. “It looks like good fortune is on our side.”

“Did you ask her?” Thanatos asked flatly.

Hecate was taken aback by his sudden sense of humor. “Ha-ha, death-boy.” Standing up, she returned the helm to Thanatos and said, “Here, you’re still going to need this.” Fishing a small phial out of her pocket, she handed it to him and said, “This too.”

Reluctantly, he took the objects from her and sat up on the couch, awaiting his next orders.

“I want you to bring Demeter to me.”

“What? Are you crazy? Even if I could find her – which I can’t – I have no way of overpowering one of the six traitors. Plus, she’s way bigger than me! Besides, what value will having her bring?” The blue around Thanatos’s eyes darkened as the ichor rushed to his face.

Calmly, Hecate said, “Well, the helm should help you sneak up on her and the phial contains a potion that will make her very compliant to the will of the administer. All you have to do is toss it on her skin – she doesn’t even have to consume it. I’m very clever, you see.” She folded her arms across her chest and smiled smugly. “As for value, if Zeus gets his hands on Demeter first, he’ll use her as leverage to force Persephone to give herself up. I won’t let her be a bargaining chip.”

Thanatos looked down at the phial in his hand as if it carried the weight of the future and shuddered. “Since you’re so clever, I don’t suppose you can tell me where she’s hiding?”

Hecate shook her head and said, “Nope, _I_ can’t.”

Stuffing the potion in his pocket and placing the helm under his arm, he stood up and said, “But I suppose you know who does?”

“Yes, and so do you.”

Thanatos raised his free hand to his forehead and said, “Wait, no, not…”

Hecate cackled a little and said, “Oh, c’mon, you know she loves you. She’s your _mother_ after all!”

Smiling wryly, he said, “Yes, and I’m her biggest disappointment.”

“Now’s your chance to change that. Just like Helios sees all during the day, Nyx sees all at night. I bet she knows exactly where Demeter is hiding. Heck, if we’re lucky, maybe she’s helping her. After all, we know how much Nyx hates Zeus.”

Thanatos grumbled, “All I know is how much she loves Hades.”

Shrugging, Hecate said, “There’s always therapy to help you unwind these issues, but for now I need you to get your butt out there and bring me Demeter. And not a word of this to anyone – not even Hades!”

Giving her a disrespectful little salute with his left hand, Thanatos placed the helm on his head and walked out of her office. 

**Author's Note:**

> * I assume that Thanatos can teleport based on his history of breaking and entering.


End file.
